FiTDAK’s E-Session On New MSME Regulations

-Ayshwaria Lakshmi

FITDAK (Federation of IT dealers’ associations of Karnataka) had recently organized the webinar and all districts IT associations participated. Sai Rao, President of the association headed the session. 

Earlier, the MSME included the manufacturing sector primarily and a few from the service sector. The classification was done based on the investment made in plant and machineries for the manufacturing sector and equipment’s for the service sector.  In the new definition, it considers the manufacturing and service sectors as equals. The classification, on the basis of turnover, risen from 100 crores to 250 crores. This allows most of the companies to come under it and more to benefit. It also provides for the industry to grow in the stress-free surroundings.

To explain this and the importance of registering under MSME ministry, Suman S Raju, Assistant Director (Mechanical) MSMEDI Bangalore, Ministry of MSME, Govt. Of India, presided over the webinar.  Jeyalakshmi Venkatnarayanan, Vice president of FiDTAK and founder of Universe Group, spoke on leveraging MSMEs where over 100 participants from the Karnataka IT fraternity took part. 
Udyam registration:

Speaking to Channel Times, Jeyalakshmi said, “When the registration was launched, every business owner felt unnecessary as most of them got registered already. However, lesser-known is that this comes with a lot of new schemes and inclusions of new business, which requires a fresh registration. In addition to that, this registration website is user-friendly with hassle-free registrations, and it requires no payment. In Udayam, both the new and existing companies should register.” According to her, it does not need a third party to do the registrations. 

Advantages of MSME Registrations:

With the new registration, the small businesses can avail a lot of benefits under various schemes. “They can also get marketing support, delegation, collateral-free funding, and others if they register under MSME. But one should note, it does not mean that all the entrepreneurs can avail of these benefits. We should understand what MSME can give you and approach the bank or the govt officers for support. Like MSME, National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC), Visvervaraya Trade Promotion Centre (VTPC), MSME databank, MyMSME, MSME Champions are some avenues which will advantage a small business owner.”

During the session, she also touched up the ‘MSME champions’, a grievance portal. “If a payment defaults happens beyond 45 days, the entrepreneur can post a complaint here. Apart from this, it can also be used for posting the entrepreneur’s innovation or invention, an award, and others.”  The government might also select people from here for any awards. In MSME, the companies can first register under it and MSME institute, where they can collect the information on training about schemes.

The session also had topics on how to approach funding. The major challenges of the IT industry are manpower and funding. For manpower, we have two – apprenticeship and skill development. “We can get technical staff from the apprentice institute and non-technical from skill development. We can request in skill development for a particular training to be done. On the funding aspects, we have various schemes under which we can get collateral-free loans. Like Atmanirbhar loan for MSME, Mudra loan, Credit guarantee to Medium Small enterprise and TReDs, relatively a new scheme for bill discounting,” she said. 

Jeyalakshmi says, while approaching a banker, there are two things that the entrepreneur should deal with, a mind-block that we will not get the loan. When registered under MSME, we are eligible for the schemes that can help us. Second, clarity about our business, which can convince the banker for a loan like we convince our customers.
While approaching a banker, it is important to tell the banker under which scheme you are keen for a loan. “Most entrepreneurs ask for money and not for the scheme. This makes the banker put them under a scheme that would not be useful for them. It is also important for them to read the sanction letter carefully and check for the scheme they being given a loan. For example, a company with scalable operation can not use Mudra loans.”, she concluded.